Hit-run drivers are hiding something

John Smierciak / Chicago Tribune

Sarah Sanaghan, 13, center in bright blue jacket, stands as someone else talks to reporters on Nov. 4, 1997 after a Will County jury convicted Richard Devon in the hit-and-run that injured her and killed her twin sister, Cari, Courtney Lauer, and Sheena Acres.

Sarah Sanaghan, 13, center in bright blue jacket, stands as someone else talks to reporters on Nov. 4, 1997 after a Will County jury convicted Richard Devon in the hit-and-run that injured her and killed her twin sister, Cari, Courtney Lauer, and Sheena Acres. (John Smierciak / Chicago Tribune)

Joel Kaplan

From the moment the bodies of three children were found along the rural road in Will County, there was this question: Why would the motorist whose truck hit them drive off into the night without stopping?

It has been a question asked all week by police trying to find the driver. It was a question repeated Thursday as family and friends attended a wake for the victims.

The motivations of the driver in the Crete Township accident are still as unclear as his or her identity, but experts who have studied driving behavior say drivers flee the scenes of accidents for a variety of reasons.

Sheer panic is perhaps the main motivator, experts say, but a driver might be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, lack insurance, or may be wanted on other criminal charges.

"It's fear of getting caught, particularly if a hit-and-run driver may have been driving recklessly or drunk," said James Fox, dean of the criminal justice college at Northeastern University. "It could be someone who is fleeing from another crime or someone without a license.

"It could be someone doing something they shouldn't be doing or have someone in the car who they shouldn't be with."

Police officers who investigate hit-and-run cases say they are surprised at how many law-abiding citizens will run away from an accident.

"It's only human nature that a person is going to be traumatized or scared in any type of automobile accident, let alone running down three pedestrians," said Chuck Barham, a detective with the Sacramento police department who has made a career out of investigating hit-and-run accidents.

But Barham said that if the driver who struck and killed Cari Sanaghan, 11, Sheena Acres, 12, and Nicole Lauer, 12, along Burville Road on Sunday night had kept driving because of fear or panic, he or she probably would have turned up by now.

"I'll bet you money that in this case, there is something more than this person being traumatized," Barham said. "If this driver had insurance, had a valid driver's license and is not wanted by anybody, they would say to themselves, `This isn't right,' and would call in."

Police say some drivers may flee the scene because they think the penalties for a crime such as drinking and driving will be more severe than those for leaving the scene of an accident.

"Unfortunately our traffic laws and the penalties that go with them are not that severe," he said. "If I was mad at my wife and wanted to get rid of her, the easiest way to do it would be to strike her with the car and say it was an accident."

But most traffic experts dismiss the notion that drivers flee to escape harsher penalties.

"Then you are saying someone is operating in a calculating manner," Northeastern's Fox said. "Most people don't know the different sanctions and others wouldn't be weighing them in such a calculating manner.

"Most people are simply concerned about the likelihood of being caught," he said. "They are hoping through their flight that they will not get any penalty whatsoever."

In Illinois, drivers who knowingly leave the scene of a serious accident and do not turn themselves in within 48 hours face felony charges.

"The psychology of hit-and-run is that people are afraid," said Leila Osian, executive vice president of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances. "They fear the law, and when you get a hit-and-run, it is generally people who think they can escape from the law."

Enforcement agencies such as the FBI and the National Highway Safety Administration do not keep statistics on arrest rates of hit-and-run drivers. But law enforcement officers say they generally capture half of those involved in serious accidents.

Those arrests usually occur because witnesses provide license-plate numbers or other identifying characteristics of the vehicle, or others who have seen the car contact police.

Investigators in Will County say they received more than 100 tips Thursday in the accident that killed the three girls, but none so far has panned out.

They believe the vehicle that caused the deaths is a Chevrolet S-10 pickup or a Blazer made between 1982 and 1990, brown or rust in color. They are poring over a list of 400 such trucks registered in the area.

"We are swamped in here today and we're glad to have it," Sgt. Ray Horwath said Thursday of the deluge of calls.

Meanwhile, at Crete Funeral Home, police stood outside directing traffic as one of the largest crowds ever filed inside to pay respects to the three 6th graders.

Many cried as they passed by and hugged family members.

Cari Sanaghan's casket was closed. Her sisters, twin Sarah, who had witnessed the accident, and Erin, created several photo montages that hung around the visitation room between dozens of bouquets of flowers.

Courtney Lauer's Crete softball jersey and baseball cap rested inches from her head and several compact discs were inside the casket. Sheena Acres lay with a stuffed Winnie the Pooh and a Bible.